This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 20, 2017 - July 26, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: China’s Hengan International Group Co Ltd’s unconditional mandatory takeover offer for the remaining shares it doesn’t own in Wang-Zheng Bhd has been rejected by the latter’s shareholders.

At an offer price of RM1.14 per share, Hengan only obtained acceptances for 3,000 shares when the offer closed yesterday, said AmInvestment Bank in a notice issued on behalf of Hengan.

That leaves Hengan with the same 50.4% stake in Wang-Zheng, which it acquired after buying 80 million shares in the company in June from the then largest shareholder, Wang-Zheng Resources Sdn Bhd, and three others.

On July 10, independent adviser Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd deemed the takeover offer as “not fair and not reasonable” and advised shareholders to reject it as Wang-Zheng shares were relatively liquid and would remain traded on Bursa Malaysia.  It  added that the offer price represented a discount of 25.49% to the then last traded price of RM1.53.

Yesterday, Wang-Zheng shares closed at RM1.38, with a market capitalisation of RM218.84 million.

Meanwhile, Temasek Padu Sdn Bhd has only managed to secure an additional 59,279 shares — representing a 0.01% stake — via its takeover offer for KUB Malaysia Bhd shares.

The offer for the KUB shares at 35 sen per share by Temasek Padu’s indirect wholly-owned unit Anchorscape Sdn Bhd closed yesterday.

Anchorscape’s stake in the group stands at 52.18% after including the additional 0.01%, said Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd in a statement.

Affin Hwang, in its independent advice to KUB shareholders, had advised them to reject the offer as it is “not fair and not reasonable” because the stock was trading at a much higher price. It fixed the fair value of KUB shares at RM1.59 each.

Temasek Padu had earlier exercised its right to buy a 22.55% equity interest in KUB from the Minister of Finance Inc for RM43.91 million or 35 sen per share.